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What are the best programming fonts for short-sighted (think font size 16 according to MS Word)?

5

Options
Considered

21

User
Recs.

Dec 24, 2023

Last
Updated

5 Options Considered

Best programming fonts for short-sighted (think font size 16 according to MS Word)	Price	License	Zero Style
-- Adobe Source Code Pro	FREE	OFL-1.1	Dot
-- Bitstream DejaVu Sans Mono	Free	Bitstream-Vera	Dot
-- Inconsolata	free	OFL-1.1	Slash
-- Dalton Maag Ubuntu Mono	Free	Ubuntu Font 1.0	Dot
-- MT Lucida Console	$50.99+	Proprietary	-

Adobe Source Code Pro

Top Pro

Easy on user's eyes

The characters in Source Code Pro are easily readable. They have consistent widths across all weights as to not break up words. Commonly used programming symbols (such as various kinds of brackets) are made easily discernible from each other while various punctuation marks are made bigger than normal. This makes them especially good for programmers who keep staring at code for hours. See More

Top Con

Very difficult to read compared to Consolas or Courier New

The characters are much too widely spaced apart to be easily readable. See More

Specs

License:OFL-1.1

Weights:7 (Extralight, Light, Regular, Medium, Semibold, Bold, Black)

Top Pro

Several styles available

The code comes with seven style variants: ExtraLight, Light, Regular, Medium, Semibold, Bold, and Black. See More

Top Con

Dotted zero lacks clarity

Dotted zero characters are less distinct from capital "O" characters than slashed zero characters. See More

Top Pro

Available with Google Web Fonts

The font is hosted on Google Web Fonts directory, meaning that it can be easily embedded in web pages. See More

Top Con

Can be somewhat odd for hex numbers with certain styles

With certain font-size and font-weight combinations (12 pt and regular, for example) capital letters are bigger than integer digits, making hex numbers look weird. See More

Top Pro

Even spacing

Characters are evenly spaced, making for better readability. See More

Top Pro

Powerline symbols included

Powerline symbols are useful for programmers to display a nicer status bar or mode-line on Vim and Emacs. See More

Top Pro

Legible on all displays

The characters have been made in such a way that they are easily discernible and usable regardless of font size, weight, and display. See More

Top Pro

Free and open source

The font is licensed under SIL open font license with source code available on GitHub. Being an open source font, it's also reasonable to expect incremental upgrades and additions to character sets and functionality. See More

Inconsolata

Top Pro

Supports both large and small sizes

Proof-link (quote: "it looks fantastic at both large and small sizes"). See More

Top Con

Arched braces

Too much arched braces, decreases clarity, touching characters almost. See More

Specs

License:OFL-1.1

Zero Style:Slash

Ligatures:Yes, but disabled by default

Top Pro

Characters readable even at small sizes

The characters in Inconsolata have a slightly "wide" appearance that aids in readability, especially at small font sizes. See More

Top Pro

No visible character breaks

Inconsolata renders lines in TUIs without visible character breaks; apparently unlike Inconsolata-g. See More

Top Pro

Excellent readability

Very clear, distinct characters with decent spacing make Inconsolata very readable. See More

Top Pro

Open source

It's an open source font, meaning it's freely available. See More

Top Pro

Widely available

Inconsolata is available in the package managers of almost every open source OS. See More

Top Pro

Slashed zero characters are distinguishable from capital "O" and "Q" characters

Inconsolata-g screws this up by replacing the slashed zero with a dotted zero. A dotted zero is better than a zero with nothing in it, but worse than a slashed zero. See More

Top Pro

Efficient scalability

Inconsolata scales well without loss of readability. See More

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